Fresh Cherry Turnovers with Cream Cheese Crust

posted by Lori Lange

I’m lovin’ the abundance of fresh cherries right now. We consistently have cherries all washed and ready to eat in a big bowl in our refrigerator. Honestly I had never really been that into eating cherries before this season. Popping them into your mouth, chewing around the pit and then discreetly ‘spitting’ the pit into a nearby napkin had never been all that appealing of an option for me. But my participation in the International Food Blogger’s Conference in Seattle resulted in a nifty new kitchen device gifted to us from OXO: The Cherry Pitter.What a cool tool!! Slip the cherry into the slot, punch the metal gadget through and the pit slides right out. The cherry remains intact with a clean hole through the middle, and the plastic guard holds back the splattering cherry juice. As a result of this new tool, our lives are now happily filled with cherries. My son asked if he could help me bake something with the fresh cherries (excitedly offering to de-pit them for me). Inspired by Pinch My Salt’s twittering about some turnovers that she had made, I decided on baking Fresh Cherry Turnoversusing a cream cheese crust recipe from a book that both of us had acquired from the food conference (courtesy of Sur La Table): The Art & Soul of Baking (definitely worth checking out).
The crust is pretty much the easiest crust I’ve ever worked with (this is coming from someone who is severely crust-challenged). The whole thing just goes into the food processor and then is given a short chill in the fridge before rolling. I used the top of a plastic container to cut out the rounds for the turnovers. I then used a knife to lightly mark the halfway-mark of each circle.
The cherry mixture is simple… just some sugared fresh cherries with a lemony zest & added cornstarch. I plopped a couple of Tablespoonfuls onto each turnover half. The edges of that same half are brushed with a milky egg-wash.
The tines of a fork are used to press the edges together to seal them.
The turnovers are chilled in the fridge before continuing, and then brushed with egg wash again and sprinkled with coarse sugar.
Fresh and warm out of the oven, these were fantastic little hand-pies. Slightly crunchy with a syrupy cherry filling tainted with lemon-flavor, we enjoyed these plain. They’d also be fabulous with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of freshly whipped cream.
They were also amazing though the next day. I tucked one in my son’s lunch, and he promptly showed off his little turnover to his friends at lunchtime. He told me that they were all entirely jealous of his homemade treat. My husband said that they were even better than McDonald’s cherry pies (I’m pretty sure he was just kidding around, since they aren’t really comparable at all )

I bought 2 bags of cherries at the store this week, I need to make these!! I use to have a cherry pitter yrs ago but can’t find them anymore. I bet these pies were insanely good with the cream cheese crust!! Bookmarking this to make!

These look great! Although, when I read your tweet my brain instantly went to cherry TOMATO turnovers…. so yeah.. I may need to be making those since our cherries aren’t in season quite yet. I bet if you traded the teaspoon of sugar for salt you would have a savory crust. Yum!

They turned out great! I fell in love with that crust, it’s foolproof and delicious! I think I might even use it for Pumpkin Pie this year for Thanksgiving. I’ll be posting my rhubarb-blueberry turnovers tomorrow. I made them twice and loved them, but I think I’ll try this cherry version next time!

i’m on such a hand-pie kick right now, but cherries are so expensive! frankly, i don’t care at this point because your pictures and commentary have made these impossible to resist. that crust sounds terrific too.
and wait–are you saying it’s unladylike to spit a cherry pit into the trash can from 10 feet back?

Okay, now I absolutely cannot wait for cherry season in Illinois. I’ve always baked with Wisconsin tart cherries – the sweet cherries you used look awesome though,and you’d need less sugar.

For those without pitters, if you’re just baking with cherries and they don’t need to look perfect, it’s really easy (if a bit messy) to de-pit with a paring knife. Just slice along the crease of the cherry and flick out the pit with the point of the knife. Most people get the hang of it after destroying half a dozen or so cherries.

I know you are married, but…….I LOVE you! Thanks so much for your very kind words.

This community is filled with wonderful, caring and sharing people who really connect on so many levels.

Congrats for being one of the bloggers selected to attend the conference. I would have killed for a chance to attend. I plan to make a come back shortly, but in the meantime I’ll continue to follow you and your delicious adventures.

How cool is that? What a coincidence. I just saw a cherry pitter (?) in a kitchen kraft catalogue that came in today. I’ll have to get one and try out your recipe. I love the cream cheese pastry. Have a great weekend.

Love your blog and love your photos! These cherry turnovers look heavenly and I can’t wait to try them. I’m definitely going to keep your site on my blogroll. Please take a moment to check out my baking blog. It’s fairly new so there is not a whole lot on there but stay tuned!

These look so much easier than the pie I attempted. I am sorry I did not come across this recipe before that disaster! As to the pitting – Cooks illustrated suggested using a straw. I tried it. It was messy.